[K12OSN] OT - Many displays/remote control

[Les Mikesell]

On Tue, 2005-09-13 at 22:40, Keith Olson wrote:

> >This doesn't quite relate to normal k12ltsp use but some of the ideas
> >might apply so I'll ask here anyway.  I have a wall of displays
> >monitoring a lot of remote network devices and services.  These
> >are currently mostly running on multi-headed windows boxes.  Some
> >of the software needs windows but quite a few are just browser
> >screens and some are already java applications under Linux.  There
> >is a massive tangle of keyboards and mice underneath and it is
> >painful to sort out which goes to which display.  So, is there
> >a better way?  Can thin terminals run X multiheaded?  Is there a
> >way to do VNC per screen on multiheaded boxes so an operator sitting
> >at a desk within sight of these monitors could yank the one he
> >wants to his own screen?  I have enough old PC's to use one per
> >display but would prefer not to deal with the space or power needed.
> >
> I have one acronym for you: KVM.  (If I have misunderstood your 
> situation, then I apologize.)

That works in smaller scenarios.  For this, I need to have 20
monitors spread across a couple of walls to keep everything
visible at once.  The problems I have (mostly because it was
assembled out of junk parts) are that there isn't a 1 to 1
correspondence of keyboards/mice to monitors so it is confusing
and also that the the person watching them actually sits
back at a desk too far away to read the details when interacting.

Things that might improve the situation would be to network
boot at least some of the PC's (thus the question about multi-headed
thin clients), and some way to run VNC to be able to grab any
of the displays onto a PC at the operator's desk, preferably
one screen of a multi-headed box at a time, which would be easier
to keep straight.

-- 
  Les Mikesell
   les at futuresource.com